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Several important Bulgarian road projects are expected to gain momentum over the coming weeks, a welcome boost for a sector that has been beset by delays in the past. In mid-September, the National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) announced that it would soon be declaring new tenders for the construction of two key road projects worth a total of US$94 million (approximately €68.8 million). One section will link the south-eastern city of Kardzhali to Podkova, near the Greek border: the second will connect t

It has taken a long time to complete, but a vital motorway link is open to traffic as Heikki Harri reports After almost 50 years of construction, the M1 motorway linking Helsinki, the Finnish capital city and Turku, the country's old capital in the southwest, is finally completed. It did not take all 50 years of construction but the first section from Helsinki towards the west was constructed in the mid -1960s. Then there was a pause until mid-1990s when the works resumed section by section. The final sect

Road infrastructure has a core role to play in improving road safety and accident statistics often understate this. Marco Mongiello reports Everybody agrees that road safety is a very important issue. In 2006 in the European Union (EU 25) there were 38,400 casualties and 1,700,000 road injuries, with a total cost of E160 billion. For most people there are no doubts: the driver's behaviour is to blame. However, "road infrastructure has a core role to play in improving road safety and this has been recognised

The problem: motorcyclist fatalities can occur from a variety of accidents. But in the United States in 2005, motorcyclists comprised 42% of fatalities due to guardrail collisions, whereas only 3% of vehicles on the roads were motorcycles (Gabler, 2007). More motorcyclists were killed in guardrail collisions than passengers of any other vehicle type in 2005 (Gabler, 2007). Guardrails cannot simply be removed to protect motorcyclists. However, improvements need to be made in several areas in order to keep mo

Students from nearly two dozen universities entered the 2008 IRF Essay Competition. Each student was asked to submit an essay which addressed a topic under this year's theme of road safety The winner was Allison Daniello, a junior mechanical engineering student at Virginia Tech. She completed her paper, titled 'Motorcycle-Guardrail Crashes: How can the risk of severe injury and fatality be reduced?' under the supervision of Dr Clay Gabler. Her work was selected by a panel of international judges with expert

The second comprehensive transport study of Jiangsu Province is a good example of road policy in action. Samuel C F Wong, Technical Director, Scott Wilson Ltd explains Jiangsu Province on the eastern coast of China, with a population of 76 million, is one of the fastest growing in the country. Between 1990 and 2007 GDP growth averaged some 16%/year. Economic growth, however, has not occurred evenly. Two-thirds of the province's wealth has accumulated in its southern half. With Jiangsu's rapid economic expan

Construction in China still appears to be on course for growth even with the gloomy economic outlook, as it enjoys "a strong budgets position." Patrick Smith reports One thing is certain in the current global economic climate: nothing is certain. And while China has not been unaffected by the economic events of recent months it has, according to Robert Zoellinck, president of the World Bank, a very strong current account and budgetary position. For some years, the nation has enjoyed double digit growth (the

The recycling and minerals extraction markets now share technologies, Mike Woof reports Not surprisingly, the Steinexpo quarrying event in Germany was a key launch venue for new crushing and screening technologies, as well as associated quarrying technology. Crushing and screening equipment firms from a wide range of European countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK were present at the exhibition. However it was noticeable how closely the miner

In the drilling and hydraulic attachment sectors too, firms are offering novel solutions for the customer. Atlas Copco continues to develop its comprehensive range of drilling solutions in the shape of its latest down-the-hole (DTH) and SmartRig variants, as well as adding new compact rigs and new consumables to the line-up. The firm's latest Roc L630 DTH rig benefits from a new feed as well as improved cooling. The new aluminium feed is said to improve hole straightness and hole quality. It also allows the

Wirtgen is broadening its recycling equipment line-up with its latest KMA220 RAP plant. This mobile machine has been designed to meet a need from contractors for a versatile plant that can be set up quickly when needed. The machine offers a mixing capacity of up to 220 tonnes/hour for the production of high-quality cold mixes for use on major highways carrying heavy traffic volumes from recycled material. The KMA220 replaces the earlier KMA200 model and offers a 10% increase in throughput. Power comes from